We were blessed to have Elder Bednar visit our stake this weekend for conference. Among other things, he taught many truths and principles of the gospel that are familiar, but not entirely correct. I wish to discuss a couple of these things that I have learned and relearned.

One of the first things Elder Bednar said was that he is an Apostle of Jesus Christ. I know that he is, but it is interesting to hear him say it so plainly and without any trace of self satisfaction. There is no conceit, agenda or self righteousness expressed at all. Yet, along with that statement of fact, he also said he wanted us to be uplifted, rebuked and instructed during the course of the meetings.

He then talked about the word “meeting”, and told us he did not want the “meeting” referred to as such, or even a conference session. Rather, he would that we would view these “meetings” as a revelatory experience. Along with that, he promised that if we approached the “meeting” in that fashion, we would have things revealed to us that we needed, and those things might or might not be actually discussed during the time together.

He then said, paraphrasing, “When an Apostle reads and speaks the words of a fellow Apostle, they have the same authority”. I take the term “fellow Apostle” to mean those living and dead. In the history of the ancient and latter-day church, there have not been that many Apostles. I am sure that number is less than 150. Considering the size of the church and the population of the world, the words that Apostles speak must be regarded as the Word and Will of Jesus Christ and certainly special to hear. Apostles, remember, are special witnesses of Christ and His name. When an Apostle speaks the words of a fellow Apostle, that word has the same authority as the original speaker. I could liken it to a corporation where Christ is the CEO, the boss, and all of the Apostles, living and dead, are members of the board with equal authority given to them from the CEO to act and speak as the CEO would have them do. The catch is, the CEO gets to pick each member of the board, and he will only pick those who are of like mind to Him and are willing to follow His instructions exactly. That doesn’t mean these board members are mindless robots. Rather, they are given to charge to watch over the corporation and invite any who will to join it. Likewise, the Apostles are instructed to watch over the church, preach the gospel, and to minister to those who will join it.

Now, with this kind of introduction, perhaps some of the other topics I will present in this forum will look a little different. Hopefully, I will be able to present them in a way that does justice to the spirit of their delivery.